Thursday, February 6, 2014

JARRET FIRE DEPARTMENT—2013 IN REVIEW

By Fire Chief John Ortega

Jarret Fire & Rescue

VON ORMY — Good Day to all, 2014 is here and it looks like its going to be a good year on many fronts for our area. Currently, there are 20 members from all departments attending a EMT class in our district and by June, if all goes well we will have 20 EMTs. Jarret applied for a FEMA grant last year to send 10members to the SAC Fire Academy this year, though we will not find out if we are awarded this grant till April, I feel confident we will get it ! And then of course there’s the new station that is being built on Quarterhorse with a completion date of June 27, 2014. These are just to name a few events that will take place this year and hopefully, more training, equipment and members will come our way.

I know by now that most of you have seen the ESD in the news, unfortunately the news is bad, as it always is whenever any ESD comes out in the news. But let me just say that this will pass, lessons will be learned and we will move forward ! It all comes down to “ Accountability “ from the highest level to the lowest. But I will not dwell on this, but rather concentrate on what needs to be done and a lot needs to be done! I truly hope this year brings many good things to you and yours, that you prosper and your health be good. Jarret VFA, along with the entire district are here for one purpose and one purpose alone, to serve and protect the citizens of District 5. I am including a “ Year End Report “ showing all the calls Jarret ran for 2013. It shows our average response time, man hours and type of calls we responded to lastyear. I have been making this report since 2006 and one type of call that has really seen an increase over the years are MVCs, (Motor Vehicle Accidents) both major and minor. The biggest jump was from 2012 to 2013, we saw a 25% increase and this is alarming ! This will be a concern that I will concentrate on this year, and with the help of the ESD we will do whatever it takes to train, educate, get the equipment and apparatus needed to better prepare our firefighters , this will be a priority !